This Grain Free Lemon Zucchini Cake is simple and easy to make, and it’s also a healthy treat that’s paleo, gluten free, and dairy free.
We could all use a bright spot mid-March couldn’t we? Maybe it’s a nicer month where you are, but here in Montana, March is a rather dreary month for the most part. The snow starts to melt, yet we usually get a few more snow storms that make you think spring may never come.
Also everything is at it’s brownest/soggiest state each time the snow melts. And really at this point of winter, you’re just longing to see anything green. This year however I think I’d even be excited to see some soggy mud because it’s still a white frozen tundra around here, much less anything approaching green!
So I have some sunshine for you as well as a hint of green with this Lemon Zucchini Cake, if you’re like us and still patiently waiting for any hint of spring. Being lemon it’s predictably bright and zesty, and the zucchini makes it fantastically moist. Instead of going with the usual cinnamon that I love so much in baked goods with lemon, I branched out with cardamom and nutmeg with this cake.
This turned out to be an incredible combination. And if you don’t already have cardamom in your spice collection, I’d definitely encourage you to put it on your next shopping list.
Cardamom as well as nutmeg are always best freshly ground. For nutmeg I have a little grater that I freshly grate it with because I don’t use it very often. But with cardamom I’ve been using it so much I bought a jar of it already ground.
Let’s jump in and make my Grain Free Lemon Zucchini Cake:
After you stir together the dry ingredients, you add the zucchini and stir just to coat the shreds.
Then you add the wet ingredients and stir just to combine.
Then you can pour it into a springform pan with a parchment lined bottom. Or if you don’t need to take the cake out of the pan, you can use glass baking dish.
And now let’s talk about the glaze for a minute. Coconut butter is a bit unreliable when it’s comes to making a glaze but it’s the best thing I’ve found to avoid powdered sugar glazes.
Glaze Tip: If you find your glaze is ‘seizing’ up like the above photo, don’t panic, you just need to keep adding a bit of liquid until it looks like the photo below.
You can use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake. But if you really like the way the lines look on this cake, I would suggest getting a squeeze bottle.
Squeeze bottles are generally cheap, (I got mine at our local restaurant supply for around $1) and they are awesome for decorating with glazes, melted chocolate. Also I love putting any kind of homemade flavored mayo in squeeze bottles, not only for the nice presentation, but it’s really convenient as well.
PrintGrain Free Lemon Zucchini Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 10–12 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
A bright tasting lightly spiced cake perfect for spring!
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups fine almond flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour/starch
2 Teaspoons baking powder, see notes
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons lemon zest, grated with a microplane
1 Teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
2 eggs
1/2 cup honey, see notes
1/3 cup avocado oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 Teaspoon almond extract
Frosting:
1/4 cup coconut butter, at room temperature
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 Tablespoons honey
Pinch of sea salt
2–4 Tablespoons water
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line the bottom of a 9″ springform pan with parchment paper. Lightly oil the pan and the paper at the bottom, then set the pan aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together the almond flour, tapioca, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, lemon zest, cardamom, and nutmeg until completely combined. Add the grated zucchini and mix just until the zucchini is coated by the flour mixture.
Add the eggs, honey, avocado oil, and vanilla and almond extracts. Mix just to combine and pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20 minutes, then cover the top of the cake with a small piece of foil creating a tent. Continue to cook for another 35-40 minutes, (for a total of 55-60 minutes) or until the cake is puffed in the middle and a toothpick inserted comes out with just moist crumbs.
Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully loosen the sides of the cake with a butter knife and remove the side of the springform pan.
For the frosting, melt the coconut butter in a small saucepan over low heat. When the coconut butter is melted, whisk in the lemon juice, honey, sea salt, and 2 tablespoons of the water. Don’t worry if the frosting breaks or seizes up, just whisk in a bit more water until it’s smooth again, (refer to the photo in the post). Drizzle the frosting over the cake using a spoon, or place it into a squeeze bottle if you’d like nice clean lines across the cake.
From here you can serve it off the bottom of the springform pan, or using 2 or more spatulas carefully slide them under the parchment paper of the cooled cake, and transfer it to a cake stand. It’s best not to move the cake before it’s completely cooled unless you have 2 people and several spatulas (I’ve used 4) under every single part of the cake as it’s not sturdy enough to transfer when hot or warm. This cake keeps well at room temperature for 3 days.
Notes
Baking powder can have all sorts of additives, and isn’t always gluten free or paleo. To be safe, you can make your own by mixing together 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar, and use the mixture right away.
If your honey isn’t liquid, heat it over low heat just enough to liquify it, but don’t let it get hot.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Baking
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Your photos are amazing! There is a lot of light, you can’t hardly say the weather is soggy. And the combo of ingredients for the cake is amazing! Love cardamom with citrus flavors!
It’s definitely been sunny at points, but mostly lots of snow remaining until recently as it’s been rained away! I sure hope you enjoy the cake and thanks so much for the lovely compliment!
It looks very yummy.Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe with us.
I sure hope you enjoy it!
Kari, I would love to make this cake but my husband is allergic to almonds. I don’t want to use regular floor – any suggestions? Thank you!
I’ve heard of cashew and hazelnut flour, maybe they would work in place of almond flour, although I’m not sure how the texture would be. Also if you can have gluten free flour, maybe a gluten free zucchini cake recipe would work and you could use the lemon and spices from my cake with a different recipe? I sure hope this helps!
What a lovely, yummy, citrus cake and the zucchini makes it so moist! I adore the cardamom in it!
I sure hope you enjoy it!
I loved how moist this cake was. The cardamon and nutmeg went so well with the flavours. I love lemon cakes and desserts and this one is a new favourite!
They’re 2 of my favorites with lemon, so glad you enjoyed it!
I love this recipe! Now Spring is almost around the corner it’ll be perfect to make this dish over and over!
I sure hope you enjoy it!
This cake will brighten up any day. Lemon desserts are my favorites and love all of the ingredients in this.
I love lemon desserts too!
This cake and your photos are gorgeous. LOVE the addition of cardamom – it’s such an underused flavor. I have to make this soon to bring some Spring into my life (these dreary rainy days in Chicago are not cutting it).
It is such and underused spice, I love it so I’ve been trying to work it into my recipes more!
Oh my goodness! I have everything I need for this! It must be a sign… Haha! I love the addition of cardamom, one of my favorite spices. 🙂
It’s definitely a sign!;)